Helping campers since 2011

How To Cook Hot Dogs

Knowing how to cook hot dogs is handy when you go camping! You can boil or fry them on the camp stove, or grill them over the campfire for a quick and easy meal.

Since hot dogs are cooked before they are packaged, they need only to be warmed. This makes them exceptionally easy to cook.

If you’re looking for easy camping meals, you’ll want to know how to cook hot dogs. There are lots of ways to do it!

How to cook hot dogs

Boiled

This might be the easiest way of all. Just put a pan of water on the stove, add some hot dogs, and bring the water to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the hot dogs simmer for a few minutes. Carefully drain off the water, and your franks are ready to eat!

If you want to get fancy, make octopus hot dogs!

Slice a hot dog in half, the long way, leaving one end intact.

Cut each long slice in half, and then cut those pieces in half. You’ll have 8 legs.

Carefully place the octopus into a pan of water and bring it to a boil. The legs will magically curl up.

To make baby octopi, cut the frank in half the short way before slicing it.

Fried

Now that I think about it, frying hot dogs is even easier than boiling them! Just throw a hot dog into a frying pan, warm each side, and it’s ready to eat!
Just be careful not to over-heat them; they are precooked already, so it doesn't take long!

Cooked over the campfire

Making hot dogs over the campfire is a camping tradition for many families. Just skewer your hot dog lengthwise on a sturdy stick, and roast it over the fire. These marshmallow roasting sticks work well, because they have two tines that hold the hot dog firmly. You can also use a hot dog grill like this.

Grilled

It’s easy to grill hot dogs: just place them on a barbecue grill, or on a grill over a fire, turn them so that they cook evenly on each side, and there’s your dinner! If you want to get fancy, make bacon wrapped hot dogs. Just wrap each dog tightly in thinly sliced bacon before grilling.

Beanie Weenies

Open a can of baked beans, dump the beans into a pot, slice in a few hot dogs, warm it up over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and there you have it! Add piece of bread and a green salad or a plate of raw veggies, and you have a very easy complete supper.

But I don’t eat meat!

That’s okay! There are vegetarian hot dogs that are quite tasty. They don’t taste exactly like the meat variety - but you’re going to smother them with condiments anyway, aren’t you?

Health concerns

Now you know how to cook hot dogs - but you may be wondering whether you should cook hot dogs.

You’ve probably heard that hot dogs are not a nutritious food. It’s true; hot dogs are full of non-nutritive ingredients like corn syrup and MSG. In particular, they are high in sodium and contain synthetic sodium nitrate, a preservative that has been linked to any number of scary health conditions.

Recent studies indicate that eating any processed meat - including hot dogs - on a regular basis can greatly increase your risk of contracting colon cancer.

The good news is that there are healthy hot dogs - or at least “healthier” hot dogs. Look for low-fat, low salt, uncured hot dogs with no added nitrates. Applegate Farm brand Organic Beef hot dogs get good recommendations from nutritionists.

If you choose to eat hot dogs, you may decide to stick to the healthier version - and to have them as an occasional camping treat rather than a staple of your diet.

Why are they called hot dogs?

That's a good question!

"Dog" has been a nickname for "sausage" since the late 1800s. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that dachshund dogs resemble sausages - or maybe it's because of a lingering suspicion that sausages were made of dog meat.

Want to find out more about the history of hot dogs and how they got their name? Here's everything you want to know!

Now that you know how to cook hot dogs, visit this page for more easy camping meals.

Heading out on a camping trip? Be sure to visit The Camping Family home page before you go!